Manchester Bradford Train

Manchester is a city in the north west of England and is the sixth largest city in the United Kingdom. Manchester is surrounded by the Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. Manchester grew as a city as a result of the changes resulting from the boom in the textile industry spurred on by the Industrial Revolution. The city was the world's first industrialised city. To accommodate the increasing levels of trade the Bridgewater Canal was built in 1761 to transport coal. Manchester was also the site of the world's first railway station and is also where scientists first split the atom and developed the first stored program computer.

The city is notable for its architecture, culture, music, media, scientific and engineering output, sports clubs and transport connections. Two large squares contain many of the city's public monuments. Albert Square, outside Manchester Town Hall, has monuments to Prince Albert, Bishop James Fraser, Oliver Heywood, Ewart Gladstone and John Bright. Piccadilly Gardens has monuments to Queen Victoria, Robert Peel, James Watt and the Duke of Wellington.

The city is also home to two of the English Premier League's biggest football clubs: Manchester United Football Club, the most successful club in Premier League history, and Manchester City Football Club.

Located in the foothills of the Pennines, the West Yorkshire city of Bradford has a culturally diverse population with many immigrants from County Mayo and Sligo in Ireland and Jewish wool merchants from Germany who came to the city in the 19th century. More recently many immigrants from south Asia, particularly from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, came during the 1950's and 1960's.

Bradford's textile industry has been in decline since the 1950's and many of its mills have been redeveloped. The grandest of the mills no longer used for textile production is Lister's Mill, the chimney of which can be seen from most places in Bradford. It has become a beacon of regeneration after a £100 million conversion to apartment blocks.

Bradford City Park, now home to the Bradford Festival which includes the Mela, is a six-acre public space in the heart of Bradford which contains the largest man-made water feature in any UK city - a 4,000sq m mirror pool featuring more than 100 fountains, including the tallest in any UK city at 30 meters. When the mirror pool is drained City Park is capable of holding events such as carnivals, markets, theatre productions, screenings and community festivals.